There’s only one way to describe the success the Chicago Blackhawks have enjoyed this season both on the ice and in the Nielsen overnight television ratings — through the roof.

Yea, check out those overnights. They have proved a huge boon for Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the sports-focused cable channel that has aired 13 Blackhawks games so far this season.

The Blackhawks also have the highest average attendance in the NHL. (AP Photo)

And rest assured, all eyes at CSNC are now focused on Friday’s night potentially history-making hockey game that will pit the Hawks against the San Jose Sharks.

If the Hawks succeed in winning that game in regulation, or at least forcing the game into overtime, history will be made. The Hawks then will become the team with most season-opening games (17 to be exact) in which they have earned at least one point in the NHL standings.

The Anaheim Ducks have held that record since the 2006-2007 season, in which the team scored at least 1 point in 16 consecutive season-opening games.

However the Hawks game plays out on Friday, plenty of Blackhawks fans are sure to be watching to see what happens.

But the fact is, plenty of Hawks fans — regulars and new ones — have been glued to their TV sets watching the team play since the short season began. CSNC can surely attest to that.

The first Hawks game on the local sports cable channel aired this season on Jan. 20, and it was watched on average in 109,200 Chicago area households.

Last Tuesday’s (Feb. 19) CSNC telecast of the game against the archrival Vancouver Canucks that put the Hawks on the cusp of making history, was viewed in 259,350 households — a whopping 138 percent increase in viewers for Hawks games on CSNC just since the season began a month ago.

While CSNC has reveled in the impressive — and growing — ratings the Hawks have been pulling, it’s been a sad situation for Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9, which in most regular seasons would air a large number of Hawks games too.

But in this shorter season, WGN only gets to broadcast two Hawks games — and those won’t come until April.

Even though the Hawks ratings are skyrocketing as the potential history-making Friday night game looms, CSNC executives are only cautiously optimistic about what the ratings results for that game will be.

Why is that? A CSNC spokesman said that, historically-speaking, TV ratings for Friday and Saturday games have been lower than those for weekday games because many people are doing things outside the home on those nights.

But this Friday could be different

“It will be interesting,” said the CSNC spokesman. Interesting indeed. Potentially through the roof. And possibly historic.